Chamber Beat

Four hundred businesses, profit and non-profit, are members of this Chamber of Commerce here in the greater Oxford Hills, which is the umbrella for 13 towns. For the next 52 weeks, I’ll list at least eight of those members in this column each week. This week we’ll recognize Members in good standing such as Norway Savings Bank, TD Bank, Crystal Spring Farms, White’s Marina, Boomer’s Family Restaurant, Café Nomad, The Town of Mechanic Falls, and The Town of Poland.

John Williams

The Chamber Board of Directors continues to grow and we’ve recently added two outstanding individuals, who will, no doubt help the organization continue it’s steady growth and progressive focus on helping our members be more successful. They are Dana Nelson from the Oxford Casino and Melanie Wright, the General Manager for Wal-Mart/Oxford as we look for more expertise in the retail and merchandising segment of our community.

And it’s not too early to start planning ahead for the SCORE and Chamber Roundtables and Workshops, scheduled for the first month of 2014. Our first workshop will be called “Digital Nectar: How to Attract Your Ideal Customer”, which is set for Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing through 11 a.m., featuring Rich Brooks, the president of Flyte New Media, out of Portland. Rich will provide valuable information about how you, as a business owner, can optimize your website to put it at a higher ranking in Google, how you can develop your social media marketing plans and what you need to do to have a mobile friendly website.

The workshop is free to Chamber Members and at a cost of $25 to non-members. Another very good reason to join the Chamber! You can access information about registering for the workshop at our website at www.oxfordhillsmaine.com or the SCORE website, or call the Chamber at 743-2281 or SCORE at 743-0499. This social media workshop will sell out so sign up today!

And what a great way to network. Of course I’m talking about the Chamber’s monthly Business After Hours and coming up on Thursday January 9 the Olde Mill Tavern will host our members from 5:30 p.m. -7 p.m., and we’ll have door prizes to give away and if you decide to stay for dinner, the Searles family has offered to take 10 percent off your tab. Come and join us.

Put this on your calendar. The Chamber will host its annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony on Friday, March 7, at Four Seasons Function Center featuring our keynote speaker, U. S. Senator Susan Collins. More information will be forthcoming shortly so stay tuned.

Finally, it’s time to promote what we do best around here this time of the year, which is ski and board. Two of our long time members, Mt. Abram and Shawnee Peak are having a banner start to the season and Mt. Abram is offering chamber members a discount including $10 off a regular adult ticket on Fridays and children ski free with the purchase of an adult ticket.

Remember to buy locally and support the businesses of the Greater Oxford Hills.